


Karaoke Challenge

by dinkitandrhinkit



Series: The Empty Orchestra [3]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 07:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13946988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinkitandrhinkit/pseuds/dinkitandrhinkit
Summary: It's karaoke time again and this time there's a twist. Poor Link finds himself facing the one song he never wanted to sing.





	Karaoke Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> I thought about holding onto this one and posting it later, but it's done. So here it is.

"This time, we're gonna do things a little differently with the karaoke," Stevie announced. Rhett shared a confused look with Link. This was news to them.

"Each person is going to a draw a name out of this hat," She held up her favorite Mythical cap, which was filled with slips of paper, "And you will have to choose a song for that person to perform."

"What if they pick a song we hate?" Ellie asked.

"There's a forfeit for anyone who doesn't perform the song chosen for them. They have to a) eat the grossest thing currently in the kitchen," There was a collective wince, as everyone imagined just how disgusting that would likely be, considering they'd recently filmed one Will It? episode and they had another one scheduled for the upcoming week. It was a busy season, because the bosses were about to fly over to New York for a few days for meetings and TV appearances and then it was break time for a few weeks, so the crew were in hyper drive to get shows stockpiled.

"And b)," Stevie continued, "We'll be writing an L on your forehead with this non-permanent marker," She held up a bright pink dry erase board marker, "So unless you wanna look like an idiot for the rest of the night, you'll sing the song. Also, normal karaoke rules apply and I reserve the right to veto any song choice. Good luck everyone."

With that pronouncement, everyone lined up to get their name for the night.

Link got Alex, which was good. Alex was easy to choose for and would never back down from a dare, so Rihanna's S&M it was.

The show started up, Jordan was forced to sing Britney (but got a little too into it), Stevie had Snoop (which she crushed) and whoever got Rhett chickened out (probably not wanting to get themselves fired) with the Merle classic Workin' Man Blues.

As the night wore on and Link had yet to be called up, he found himself more and more anxious. A lot of his favorite songs had already been taken and he just had to hope whoever got him valued their job enough to be kind. No one had accepted a forfeit yet and he'd be damned if he'd be the one to lose a bet.

Jen had just finished an entirely unenthusiastic version of Green Day's American Idiot, complete with a glare as cold as a Canadian winter, when Link's name was called.

He made his way to the stage amidst cheers and applause. Stevie grinned mischievously at him as he joined her.

"Link Neal, your song for tonight, should you choose to accept it, is Rick Springfield's Jessie's Girl," She went to hand him the microphone, but stopped when she saw the absolute terror in his eyes.

"Stevie, I can't," He whispered, pushing the mic away so he couldn't be heard.

"Come on, boss. It’s a nice short one. It's a classic. Everyone'll join in." She was confused why Link, who didn't mind acting the fool would take the forfeit on such a simple thing. They all knew not to take karaoke seriously.

"Please Stevie, any other song but this. Please." He looked close to tears, but there was nothing she could do. She hadn't chosen the song and unless he wanted to take the punishment, he had to do it.

"I'm sorry," She shrugged.

Link couldn't take the forfeit. It would be worse and so much more revealing than just singing the damn song. He'd just have to suck it up, sing it and hope that he could avoid looking towards Rhett, who was currently at the back of the room, raptly watching the argument on stage. Link could feel his questioning gaze and his heart began to pound.

He nodded and the song started. He closed his eyes, focussing on singing it with no emotion at all. His acting skills had improved a lot recently, and this was going to push them to the limit.

He put on his best fake smile and set about dancing his way into hell.

Until he got to the line "I play along with the charade," and his voice cracked. He opened his eyes and looked up to see if anyone had noticed. He meant it to be a brief peek, but his eyes automatically searched out Rhett's and they locked gazes.

Everyone around him was dancing, singing, eating and drinking. But not Rhett. He stood still in the sea of drunken movement. An island in the stream.

Rhett's face looked flushed and dazed and when Link's eyes fell on him, he smiled a tiny, shy smile. Link's heart was jumping around in his chest, banging off his ribs, and while he knew he was still singing, he was on autopilot.

Thankfully, the chorus kicked in sooner than he'd expected and everyone joined in, making it easier for him to catch his breath. If anyone noticed their usually boisterous boss being more subdued than usual, they didn't seem to care.

His eyes fell to the monitor as he floundered his way through the bridge. The chorus came again and this time he threw himself into it with gusto.

There were cheers and whistles and Link didn't hear any of them, as he watched Rhett clapping and watching his every move. It felt like too much, so he wound his way through the crowd and as soon as he felt like he’d lost Rhett's attention, he ducked down the hallway and into their office.

He collapsed on their couch, letting his arms cross in front of his eyes to block out the light. He hoped it would block out the embarrassment too, but it didn't work. All he could see, over and over was Rhett's face and the intense shame he'd felt as he'd gazed into his eyes. He had to know. He had to. How could he not?

Link only had a minute of respite before he heard the door open and close. There was silence and he let himself hope that maybe he'd got away with it, when he let his arms fall away and he looked up to see Rhett standing just inside the door, watching him with some strange expression.

Link sighed and closed his eyes again, hoping Rhett'd get the hint and leave him alone.

"Budge up, would ya?" Rhett tapped his shoes, making Link pull his legs up and he felt Rhett sit where his feet had been.

"I'm sorry," Rhett said after a moment of silence.

"No. Don't... Why are you sorry?" Link sat up and was glad he hadn't cried or anything else as embarrassing as that. Maybe he could escape this with some dignity still intact.

"For choosing that song," He was looking at his feet and blushing and Link was confused.

"You chose Jessie's Girl for me?"

"Yeah," He nodded.

"Why?"

"Um... I guess I was just bein’ selfish? I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or feel like the butt of a joke or anything. I swear."

"Rhett, I'm always the butt of the joke," Link rolled his eyes.

"Link, I'm sorry, OK?" Oftentimes apologising to Link was infuriating enough to warrant a second apology later. Rhett was starting to feel like this could be another one of those times.

"Why did you choose it? Of all the songs, why that one?" Link pushed. Rhett sighed.

"Because I needed to know if you feel like I do. And maybe, I don’t know… I feel like the way you looked at me while you were singing that maybe you do? I don’t know, maybe I’m just seeing what I wanna see," He shrugged. He still hadn't looked up.

"And how do you feel?" Link needed to hear it. If Rhett was implying what he desperately hoped he was implying, he needed it spelled out, in triplicate and notarized.

"I'm in love with you," Rhett had barely uttered the words before Link had thrown himself at him, tackling him backwards on the couch, winding Rhett as all the air escaped from his lungs in a rush.

"Thank God for that," Link laughed, and kissed Rhett with everything he had.

Meanwhile, Rhett had no oxygen in his body and couldn't breathe, being smothered by his best friends mouth. But he could definitely think of worse ways to go.

When Link migrated from attacking his mouth down to his neck, he finally drew in a shuddering breath.

"Link?" He pushed him back enough to look him in the eyes for the first time since he'd run from the stage like his ass was on fire.

"Yeah?" He answered, grinning and clearly desperate to continue what he'd started.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

~~~~~

Karaoke night had always been a favorite Mythical Entertainment celebration. Now, the bosses attacked it with more pure delight than any of the crew had seen before, laughing and dancing through every song and lighting up every time they got to perform together.

They just never seemed to get enough of singing Endless Love and they sure did love to play it up, crooning at each other and staring into each other’s eyes like if they looked away the other might disappear.

No one loved karaoke more than they did.

**Author's Note:**

> So ends this universe. It started as a 15 minute writing exercise that turned into Jessie's girl and then this just kinda happened. 
> 
> If anyone has any prompts they wanna give me, I'm up for a challenge over on my tumblr: rhinkitdontsinkit  
> Come say hi?


End file.
